


You See Me In Hindsight

by lunarknightz



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Dark Swan Arc, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-05
Updated: 2015-10-05
Packaged: 2018-04-24 21:30:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4936030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarknightz/pseuds/lunarknightz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"And remember that moments like this are what you’re fighting for.  You’re stronger than the darkness, Emma.  And we can have our happily ever after.   I know it.” </p><p>It was only just a dream.  Or was it?</p><p>Written after seeing 5.02- "The Price", no large spoilers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You See Me In Hindsight

“We don’t have time for this.” Emma frowned. She was dressed in a fine white dress, courtesy of the kindness of Arthur and his Camelot court, looking every bit of the story book princess that she actually was.   

“Nonsense, Swan. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the centuries, it’s that there’s always time for a good picnic. And truly, I’ve never seen a more scenic view than by this lovely lake.” Hook said with a grin. He too, was dressed in Camelot finery; still in his customary black but a tad less leather and nautical than he usually wore. Emma (and several of the Camelot maidens, truth be told,) thought he looked quite knightly and dashing.

  “What is it with you and bodies of water?” She questioned.   

“Pirate.” He shrugged. “It’s what I do.”   

“And have you forgotten that we need to be spending all of our free time finding Merlin?”  

“Your parents, Regina, Robin, and everyone else that travelled over the rainbow in Granny’s Diner is working on finding _him_. They can spare us for a little while, love. Admit it, you need this.”

  “I’ve been on picnics before. They usually end in a parade of ants and misery.”

  “Maybe that’s because you haven’t had the right companion.” Hook replied with a wink. Finding a plot of land that seemed satisfactorily flat by the edge of the lake, he sat down the basket he’d _borrowed_ from the Camelot kitchens. He grabbed a blanket from the top of the blanket and tried lying it down on the ground- a task that was quite a struggle with only one good hand. The blanket insisted on getting caught on his hook, several times.

“Bloody Hell!” He exclaimed.

  “Let me help.” Emma said with a giggle. Working together, the blanket was soon spread on the ground.

  “Don’t tell Granny,” Hook said, “But I’m finding the culinary choices here in Camelot quite limited without the usage of her deep fryer. I’d do unspeakable acts just for a hamburger.”

  “Do tell.” Emma leaned close to Hook.

  “That wasn’t what I had in mind, but truly I can’t complain.” 

Hook closed the distance between them, and captured her lips with his own. The kiss grew deeper as they reveled the feeling of one another, with hands moving and exploring. Caught up in the surge of feelings, they tumbled towards each other, loosing their balance and falling down to the ground, where they flattened the picnic basket with a loud crunch. 

The sudden noise broke their embrace apart, as they both scrambled to a sitting position.   

At a loss for what to do, Emma began to giggle.  

“Are you okay?” He asked. “Are you hurt?

”  “I’m fine.” Emma smiled. “For the first time in…what seems like forever. I feel like things are going to be fine. I can’t explain it.”  

“This.” Hook said, taking her both of her hands in his good hand, “This is what I hoped might happen.”  

“That we’d destroy our lunch in a fit of passion?”

  “That you could relax. And remember that moments like _this_ are what you’re fighting for. You’re stronger than the darkness, Emma. And we can have our happily ever after. I know it.”  

Emma kissed him, a gentle kiss. A promise.  

“Promise me one thing?” She said softly.   

“I’d promise you anything.” He said, sincerely.

  “I’m not going to give up….I know that I can, that I will beat this. But if I don’t, please don’t think of me as the Dark One. Remember me this way, think of me this way, as Emma, as the savior. I don't know what the darkness could do to me. To us.”  

“I love you, Swan. There’s no darkness, no evil, no anything that could stop that. Not even in my wildest dream.”

  “I’m in your dreams?” She wiggled her eyebrows.  

“You’re in every one of my dreams. You are my dream. I love you.”  

“I know.” Emma beamed. “I just needed to hear you say it.”    

 

_______________ _______________ _______________ _______________ 

 

 _Six Weeks Later_   

Hook awoke with a start. Sleep had not come easily; and his awakening was truly abrupt. He’d fallen asleep in his recliner chair, watching a documentary film on the television at an ungodly hour of the night- what kind of trash was this whole _”Pirates of the Caribbean”_ series about anyway? A true pirate didn’t care if they had a jar of dirt, and certainly one wouldn’t brag about it.

  He shook his head, his memories still caught in the dream he’d awoken from. The dream had been so real….he had been in Camelot, with Emma. On a picnic.   But he’d never had time to be on a picnic with Emma; there was always another crisis happening- a wicked witch, a snow queen, dragons- there was little time for romance. But the dream had been so vivid- almost as if he’d lived it…  

It killed him that he couldn’t remember what had happened. How could Emma have turned, so sharply from the woman determined to fight the darkness, to the one who seemed to revel in it? He had to regain those memories; maybe if he did, he could find a way to help save Emma.

 Hook heard a thump near his window, and looked up.  

 _Emma_. 

The Dark Swan’s eyes met his for a second, until she disappeared in a flash of smoke.  
 “Swan.” He called, knowing there would not be a reply.

 

_______________ _______________ _______________ ___________________

 

Miles away, safe in the house she’d created for herself, Emma frowned. She had incredible power at her fingertips, and could have practically anything she wanted. Emma was the Dark One, and the world was her oyster.  But this magic came with too a high a price.  
 He loved her, but he didn’t want _her- the Dark Swan_.

So she’d returned a memory to him; the memory of their picnic in Camelot, back when she’d been determined to fight this evil. But to him, this memory was just a dream. Nothing more.

  But she remembered. She remembered it all.  

All magic came with a price. Emma was paying hers.

  Since coming to Storybrooke, she’d never felt so alone.  


End file.
